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Sharks put Boland away to go top

The visitors moved to the top of the standings after another bonus-point victory, this time in an impressive away performance.

This was always going to be a tough task for Boland, who just weren't strong or polished enough to keep up with one of the heavyweights of the competition.

With this result the Sharks confirmed their status as one of the favourites to win the competition with three wins a row. They blew Boland away in the first half, but took their foot off the pedal in the second which resulted in a muddling second half.

The home side made life difficult for themselves early on when Marnus Hugo was sent off for slapping the ball down with the Sharks on the attack. The men from Durban spent the first 10 minutes of the game in the Boland 22, a territorial dominance which enabled them to take an early 14-3 lead through tries by Odwa Ndungane and Inny Radebe.

The Sharks were dominant in the scrums and dangerous on the counter-attack which put a lot of pressure on the home side's defence. They couldn't cope and slipped too many tackles, missing as many as 15 in the first half alone. It was this poor defence which allowed Andre Esterhuizen to plant the ball on the line after barging through three attempted tackles.

Chilliboy Ralepelle secured the bonus-point try for his team on the stroke of half-time, driving over from a ruck after the Sharks secured a 5m line-out. It gave them a 29-3 lead at the break which effectively ended the game as a contest.

Boland faught back in the second stanza with tries by Danwel Demas and Sergio Torrens which gave them some hope of catching up with the Sharks, but then Hanco Venter finished off a move which started with a superb off-load by Keegan Daniel. Franco Marais added another five-pointer before Boland captain Ryan Nell scored an individual try to give the scoreline some respectability.